A jilted lover of SABC head Enoch Sithole could be linked to his resignation from the corporation this week, reports Jubie Matlou
The Department of Home Affairs has launched an inquiry into Enoch Sithole, the outgoing head of the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s news operations, after being tipped off that Sithole is an illegal immigrant with allegedly forged citizenship papers.
The Mail & Guardian understands the probe stems from information from a former lover of Sithole which was then passed on to home affairs.
Sithole and the former lover, SABC radio marketing manager Juliette Miyabo, have been involved in a bitter battle for maintenance payments for a six-month-old baby conceived during their relationship.
SABC sources said this week the home affairs investigation was the trigger for Sithole’s surprise resignation from the public broadcaster this week. Sithole gave no reasons for his decision.
Sithole’s exit comes in a climate of infighting and intrigue as senior SABC executives seek to reposition themselves ahead of major restructuring, and to avoid being implicated in a string of corruption and mismanagement scandals.
Miyabo’s relationship with Sithole can be traced to 1997, when she landed a job as SABC radio marketing manager, reporting directly to Sithole, then the SABC’s head of communications and marketing.
Miyabo declined to comment on allegations around Sithole’s citizenship. Her only interest, she said, was in securing maintenance payments from Sithole for their child.
“I have no reason to expose Sithole’s alleged foreign citizenship. People interested in finding out should do their homework to establish how he gained South African citizenship. I don’t want to interfere with his career life. All I want is for him to maintain the child he fathered,” Miyabo said, adding that she has “nothing” more to do with Sithole.
A home affairs source confirmed the department had received information suggesting Sithole is not a South African citizen – though he does carry a South African identity document.
Home affairs officials said they had asked the SABC to disclose particulars of all its employees to dispel the impression that the department was targeting only Sithole. If Sithole’s citizenship turns out to have been obtained fraudulently, the department would have to establish how Sithole acquired a South African ID document.
Home affairs official representative Manase Makwela was reluctant to discuss the Sithole case. Makwela said his department has asked a number of companies and organisations to provide particulars of employees, as part of a wide-ranging probe into possible irregularities in work and residence permits.
“The home affairs department is not targeting the SABC on the issues of work and residence permits; rather, we are looking at a number of cases,” said Makwela.
Sithole told the M&G that he was not aware that he is being investigated by home affairs. “As far as I am concerned … I am South African, I don’t hold a work permit,” said Sithole.
Sithole said he was born at the New Concert Gold Mine, in Barberton, Mpumalanga. He said he went to the mine’s primary school, before pursuing further studies in Swaziland, and later Mozambique, at the Eduardo Mondlane University, where he studied for a bachelor’s degree. “It’s not a secret that I have relatives in Mozambique, because my father originally comes from that country,” Sithole said.
The home affairs investigation follows closely on the deportation of two other former SABC employees, namely of Tichafe “Tich Mataz” Matambanadzo of Woza Weekend and Pushie Dunn of Jam Alley.
Meanwhile, the SABC television news camera section is the focus of investigations that have already resulted in the suspension of the unit’s manager, Mzi Mdude, and his deputy, Dingane Mosaka. At least six more suspensions are understood to be imminent.
The two are reported to have been suspended for paying “ghost” cameramen at exorbitant rates for no apparent reason.
The recent floods in Mozambique, for example, are understood to have provided fertile ground for impropriety. In one incident, a cameraman was found to have sold seats on a rented helicopter at R1E000 each to foreign journalists. The helicopter had been hired to cover the floods. When discovered, the SABC cameraman said he had intended handing over the proceeds to the corporation.
SABC sources said one crew member, who captured dramatic, widely broadcast footage of a newly born baby being rescued from a tree, sold the footage to Reuters for $500, although that footage was taken on an SABC camera. The deception only came to light when SABC executives complained to management at rival e.tv after seeing their own footage on the private channel before it was aired by the public broadcaster.
These revelations follow a finding last week by an independent arbitrator that Molefe Mokgatle and Thaninga Shope – television and corporate communication chief executives respectively – were “guilty” of financial mismanagement.
Advocate Karel Tipp was appointed as arbitrator for the hearing because there were insufficient SABC senior executives to make up an internal disciplinary hearing. Tipp was called in to adjudicate on the basis of the findings of a commission of inquiry by forensic auditors KPMG.
Shope and Mokgatle did not defend themselves at the Tipp hearings. The Tipp enquiry is set to reconvene in a few weeks to hear extenuating and aggravating circumstances from the two senior managers and the SABC.
Other middle managers implicated by the KPMG Report are undergoing an internal SABC disciplinary hearing. Among those named in the report are Prince Phaweni, Kaufuoe Mohobane, Emmanuel Mohomane and Thandi Ramathesele.
Mokgatle and Shope are accused of depleting the SABC’s R200-million commissioning budget by over-invoicing programme distributors and flouting the broadcaster’s commissioning procedures.
In one instance, Mokgatle was accused of authorising payment of $7E000 per 26- minute episode for a drama series entitled The Dream Team, produced by Acts International. A total of R4,2-million was spent by the SABC to acquire the drama series, more than double the market price.
What made matters worse was that the purchase involved a gross transgression of SABC acquisition procedures because no FC1 forms were completed for the acquisition of The Dream Team. The SABC acquisition procedure requires the form to be completed by a staff member who believes a certain expenditure commitment exceeding R10E000 is to be incurred.
Mokgatle, however, proceeded to authorise the purchase fully aware that the FC1 procedure was not followed, and continued with the transaction without the consent of either the group chief executive or the board.
A $300E000 Astrasat-AI deal, authorised by Mokgatle, resulted in the corporation’s incurring unnecessary expenses to the tune of $52E000. Mokgatle pleaded innocent, saying he was unaware that he was not authorised to sign the agreement with AI on behalf of the SABC.
Shope’s defence was that the heads of the television channels, rather than the corporation’s international programme purchasing division, should have the leeway to negotiate prices in purchasing programmes off international shelves as long as there is sufficient funds in the budget.
Shope is accused of improperly committing the SABC to a R500E000 deal with Renaissance Concepts regarding the Lebone Continental fashion show. Shope allegedly commissioned Renaissance Concepts to produce and manage certain events for a 12-month period, ending May 2000, to the tune of R7,5-million.
Shope allegedly entered into the deal without obtaining prior approval, and warned that the SABC would be charged cancellation fees if a budget were not allocated. The matter is in the hands of the corporation’s legal advisory services.
These revelations come at a time when SABC news’s audience ratings are plummeting. For example, prime-time television English news ratings are reported to have dropped dramatically, while e.tv’s news ratings are on the rise.
The newly appointed board, led by Vincent Maphai, appears to have its hands full in dealing with a corporation that is in dire need of a “clean-up”. What complicates the situation even further is the fact that the corporation is undergoing a restructuring exercise, that would see the separation of public service and commercial activities.
Hundreds of staff members and a host of managers are set to lose their jobs in the aftermath of the exercise.
The restructuring exercise, executed by an international company, Gemini, in association with local partners, is reported to have unleashed a feeling of uncertainty in the corridors of the corporation.
“Men in black suits, carrying black cases,” was an SABC employee’s description of the restructuring team that is backed by the Department of Communications.
The SABC restructuring process has also ruffled feathers in other sections of society, particularly the political left, which is opposed to the corporatisation exercise.